Statement on the arrest of JNU Students Union President, by former students, who had been arrested during the Emergency!

Press Statement on JNU

We condemn in the strongest possible words the high-handed police action in JNU. This is reminiscent of the dark days of the emergency when the state had swooped down on the campus and had arrested many on false and trumped up charges. While we hold no brief for those who raised objectionable slogans, the arrested students have been charged with anti-national activities, precisely the charges on which we were also arrested during the draconian emergency.

We call upon the democratic forces and the entire community of students from institutes of higher learning from across the country to stand together and resist these continuing attacks on education and the spaces for debate and discussion. Coming in the wake of the dastardly conspiracy of connivance and blatant discrimination that forced Rohit Vemula to take his own life, the storming of the hostels and the arrest of the president of JNUSU are signs of the imposition of an undeclared emergency that need to be opposed, confronted and defeated.

We are confident that the democratic and secular forces in the country will stand united and will ensure that the communal fascist forces do not succeed in their designs.